Kolkata, July 25 (IANS) After a week of widespread rainfall across West Bengal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday forecast a prolonged wet spell in south Bengal over the next few days, with heavy rain likely in the coastal and western districts. Heavy rainfall is also expected in north Bengal from Sunday onwards.
Director at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Kolkata’s Alipore, Habibur Rahman Biswas, said that the monsoon axis extends from Bikaner in Rajasthan to the northeast Bay of Bengal over Midnapore. A cyclonic circulation is also located above sea level. As a result, the rain will continue in Bengal.
“There is a yellow alert for heavy rain in south Bengal today. There is a possibility of scattered rain in all districts. The intensity of rain will decrease slightly from Monday. There is a possibility of heavy rain again on Wednesday in the coastal and adjacent districts. There is a yellow alert for scattered light rain in north Bengal for now. Heavy rain will occur in north Bengal from Sunday. The yellow alert for heavy rain will continue till Wednesday,” said the director.
According to the forecast, a yellow alert for heavy rain will remain in place in South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, West Midnapore and Jhargram districts on Saturday. Scattered showers may occur in the remaining districts. A yellow alert for heavy rain will remain in South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore and West Midnapore districts for the next few days.
Meanwhile, a yellow alert for heavy rain will remain in effect in five districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, and Kalimpong in north Bengal from Sunday. The heavy rain alert will remain in effect in these five districts for the next few days.
Kolkata is expected to witness light rain on Saturday, with precipitation likely to decrease later in the day. However, high humidity levels may continue to cause discomfort in the absence of significant rainfall. While rain activity is expected to lessen from Sunday, another spell of showers could return on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The city recorded a maximum temperature of 29.06 degrees Celsius on Friday, which was 2.04 degrees below normal, while the minimum settled at 25.02 degrees Celsius, 1.3 degrees below normal. Relative humidity ranged between 90 and 98 per cent.
–IANS
sch/skp
